If you’re after a pristine lawn then dandelions are the number one lawn weed.  

If you’re after pollinators in your garden, then dandelions are the number one lawn flower for all types of bees – honeybees, solitary bees, long tongued and short tongued bees – for their nectar and pollen, especially as they flower early in the season when there’s little else around. 

Other lawn ‘weeds’ include clovers, daisies, plantains, silverweeds, hawkbits, cranesbills, yarrow, black medic, trefoils, self-heal, speedwells and chickweeds and I’m keen to highlight these as lovely and simple wildflowers that can bring a whole host of benefits to the garden, not less remove the stress, time, financial cost and over use of chemicals involved in maintaining the perfect looking lawn. The idea of a bee lawn is that it’s wildflowers but not as tall and ‘messy’ as a wildflower meadow – it uses different plants that are naturally shorter and resilient to being mown regularly to keep growth in check, so you still have a lawn not a ‘jungle’.  

So don’t think ‘awful weedy lawn’, think ‘beautiful bee lawn’ and sit back and watch the pollinators.